There's a certain vein of thinker in the Muscovy tradition that see this as an existential threat to their vision of Russia. Putin is really likely to number among them. I don't agree with Zeihan on a whole bunch of things, but I agree with him on this. The Russians very, very badly want 1) Their buffer territories back & 2) Free reign to be the dominant power in Europe. They see themselves and not Germany or France as the natural leaders of Europe. Their asiatic holdings are just the source of raw materials to support their European aspirations.
It's an ideology that needs to die tbh.